November 3, 2010

Yes, MORE New Additions! (PLUS UPDATE!)

I'm sorry I was a "no show" yesterday. I told you I would share with you what the new members were going to be! I did not get ANY time to sit down yesterday! I went from boys off to school, chores, 9 am Bible Study, home for a quick lunch, to teach Junior Achievement, VOTED!, then home to make a meal for a family at church, make MY family a meal, boys home, chores, eat, Worship practice, Goat/sheep meeting at our extension office then home by almost 10pm! No time for computer AT ALL!

This last Springs baby layers.

So, I will share with you now more of my craziness pure genius! We are getting 50 more layer chickens today!!! Really our egg "selling" has helped feed not only our layers but also help feed our meat birds as well. So if we can continue to get our eggs for free AND our meat bird for free, just by selling eggs, I think I am going to give it a whirl! I love chickens. OBVIOUSLY. And we are hoping to get some now, so they will be ready to lay in the Spring. Never done this before, so we will let you know how it works! :)

We are getting Rhode Island Reds, this time. And I will be SURE to post pics of all 50 of the little buggers when I get them (hopefully this morning!). Talk to you real soon!

UPDATE!!! We got the babies this morning, and they are already settled in their temporary home. They will QUICKLY outgrow THIS area, and we will have to get them a new area REAL SOON! All arrived in good health! Check out some cuteness...

50 layer chicks!

Getting settled after a crazy first 2 days of life...

Aren't these gals CUTE!?!?

I will keep you all posted on these girls as they grow! Next for them, a BIGGER home! :)

Dodi- This batch and our batch of broilers, we got from Meyer Hatchery out of Ohio. they have always had good birds and we have been happy with them and their prices. We have also gotten birds from IDEAL Hatchery. They were also good to work with, but since it is colder, I chose to stay closer to where we are and order from Meyer this time.

Sorry to hear you lost some of your chickens... That happened to us, one by one for a while this Spring. We didn't realize it though until there were already 8 or so gone! Now we try to run a little tighter ship, though, some of the girls JUST DON'T WANNA BE PROTECTED! They would like to stay outside, rather than come in their safe coop! :S

How wonderful your chickens are helping so much. Your babies there are so cute. Our peepers turned two weeks old today! Growing fast! Not sure when I can take the heat lamp out. Till they feather out? Wish much success to you.

We are trying to keep track of what $$ we bring in from the eggs and chickens,basically we need to make sure that they are paying for themselves.How much do you get for your eggs????We just bought 25 white leghorns,that way we have some white layers and some hens that won't waste as much feed.We are going to get a couple of piglets to grow and butcher.The good thing is we have been walking the corn fields and have lots of corn that the combines have left behind.Usually 2 buckets every day(shucked)ANY ADVICE ON RAISING LARGER ANIMALS,we would like to get a cow eventually!!!!!!!We love your blog.Blessings

Toodie- I know they say you start at 90 some degrees and each week, you lower it another 4-5 degrees. After a while though they start to get acclimated to the temperatures outside the heat lamp, and if they are TOO cold you will see them all huddled under the lamp. But we haven't had any problems taking it away after about 2 months or so. One time last Spring, it was chill and rainy. We had out layers in a brooder outside. Well, one side of the TOP of the brooder got pushed over by our sheep and the chickens got all wet. It also busted their heat lamp bulb! They went all night like that, and by morning I felt horrible! But all of them made it through that ordeal. They were probably around 2 months at that point. Chickens are ACTUALLY VERY hardy. Making sure they have a relatively draft free place after that is about all you need (for shelter)1

Jamie- For our eggs we tell people to give us whatever they would like to pay for them! Of course, these are all people we go to church with. So there are a few that pay $1, and others that pay $1.50- $2. I would figure if you buy feed every 2 weeks (for example) and you get a dozen eggs a day.... If a bag of feed costs you $10 (every 2 weeks), that is $5 per week, so eggs are costing you less than $1. per dozen. If you charged $1.50, you might get a little more back to help your family's eggs consumption, so to help pay for the feed of another animal. Hope that was relatively clear! :) Advise on larger animals... hmmm... Well, we have cows too and they are actually quite easy for the most part! Our cows are all grass (& hay) fed. They KNOW what corn is, but they only get that when we need to bribe them for something, like measuring time (to see how big they are getting!) or in case they get out of your fencing. They DON'T usually get out, unless they aren't getting enough to eat, or they are just an animals that likes to be out! For your pigs, I would suggest fencing them in an area (like surrounded by hog panels) then dump your compost stuff in their pen, like your chicken bedding, garden / kitchen scraps, leaves, etc. Pigs are WONDERFUL composters and they do all of the work for you! Then when the compost is ready, just spread it on your garden (maybe next fall or the following Spring)! Goats and sheep, if you have ever considered one of them, they are a nice choice too. Sheep are very nice, but goats are so multi-purpose! You have to have GOOD fencing for goats though. These animals can also be mainly grass-fed, which saves money and is SUPER healthy! Hope that helps you!!! And thank you for your compliments!!! :)

Kate- Thank you also for your nice words! I could become a crazy chicken lady someday, no problem (like a crazy cat lady)... They have such great personalities! And RIR's ARE beautiful!!!